Shreyas Iyer faces a wicketkeeping call as India open the Afghanistan series in Delhi

India open a three-match T20I series against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday with Shreyas Iyer yet to settle his wicketkeeper and Jasprit Bumrah back in the attack

The first T20I begins at 7.30pm IST in Delhi, the first of three matches at the same ground across 13, 15 and 17 September. Afghanistan are the designated home side for the series, even though every ball of it will be bowled in India.

It is the fourth series of Shreyas Iyer's tenure as India's T20I captain and the first of them played in India. His first two assignments, in Ireland and in England, both ended in series defeats, before a 3-0 win in Zimbabwe in July under interim coach VVS Laxman steadied the side.

Ibrahim Zadran leads Afghanistan in his first full assignment as their T20I captain. Afghanistan have never beaten India in the format: of nine T20Is between them, India have won eight and one finished without a result.

A home series played in Delhi

The arrangement makes this the first bilateral T20I series Afghanistan have hosted against India, with the Arun Jaitley Stadium standing in as their home ground for all three fixtures.

It also means Afghanistan arrive with a squad that knows the conditions well. Most of their leading players have spent seasons in the Indian Premier League, and several of them have played at this ground.

The wicketkeeping call

Ishan Kishan is expected to take the gloves, with Sanju Samson the likelier of the two to miss out in the opener despite returning to the squad.

Kishan trained on Thursday despite fatigue, and is in line to keep his place at the top of the order. The teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set to retain his slot alongside Abhishek Sharma, giving India a left-handed opening pair.

Iyer was unwilling to treat the competition as a problem. "Having them in the team is a luxury, first of all, and they're flawless in their own departments," he said of the batters pressing for places.

Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Varun Chakaravarthy have also come back into the squad, while Yash Thakur was named in place of the injured Harshit Rana. Tilak Varma is Iyer's deputy for the series.

Bumrah back in the attack

Jasprit Bumrah has not played since India's one-day tour of England in July, when a left knee injury ruled him out. He bowled at full intensity in the nets on Thursday.

Iyer said the return needed matches rather than management. "As a player comes out of an injury, it's important that he gets game time, and you need that sort of confidence when you're coming into the game," he said.

The captain added that even a bowler of Bumrah's standing benefits from overs in the middle, saying he would want more game time himself in the same position.

Afghanistan's spin threat

Afghanistan's strength is their spin. Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mujeeb Ur Rahman give Zadran three frontline options, with Mohammad Nabi a fourth.

The batting leans on Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz at the top, with Azmatullah Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib providing the all-round balance. Naveen-ul-Haq returns from a shoulder injury to lead the seam attack.

Conditions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium

The surface in Delhi is expected to favour the batters, with pace and bounce on offer and short square boundaries that punish small errors in length.

Dew is the other variable in a night game. It has historically made the ball harder to grip in the second innings here, which tends to make the toss worth winning and chasing the safer option.

The second and third T20Is follow at the same ground on 15 and 17 September.

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